Sycamore looks to carry momentum of first sectional title into state meet

SYCAMORE – Tyler Carter said he heard the Sycamore boys track team’s victory at the Class 2A Rochelle Sectional described as an accident. And he doesn’t disagree.

Off what coach Pete Piccony said he believes is the first sectional title in program history, the Spartans send eight entries to the state meet at Eastern Illinois University on Friday in Charleston, including all four relays.

Down a point and a half heading into the final event, the 4x400-meter relay, Donny Gramer and the Spartans raced to a 3:29.97, taking second for enough points to overtake Sandwich for the title.

“Everyone is saying we accidentally won because we sent so many people down, and I think that’s pretty accurate,” Carter said. “But it all came down to Donny and the 4x4, and his relay really showed out and put us on top.”

The state championships start Thursday for Class 1A schools such as Indian Creek. After 2A on Friday – when not only Sycamore but Genoa-Kingston will compete – Kaneland, DeKalb and the rest of Class 3A teams round out the events Saturday.

Gramer said the Spartans are aiming to finish as high as possible as a team. But since the end goal of the season was state, the athletes are staying calm and trying not to sweat a potential bad performance.

“Everyone is going to try our best while we’re down there,” Gramer said. “We’re going to try to move up and show what Sycamore track is all about.”

Carter is seeded fifth in the 110 hurdles and fourth in the 300. He’s also an alternate on the 4x100, 4x200 and 4x400 relays for the Spartans.

Gramer will compete on both the 4x400 and 4x800 relays for the Spartans.

“We knew that was a possibility, and we executed extremely well,” Gramer said. “We got the job done at sectionals and have more to prove at state.”

Olek Clark also will compete in a pair of events for the Spartans. He is seeded fourth in the long jump and second in the triple jump – less than half a meter behind Sandwich’s Jayden McCulskie-Green.

Clark said it’s his last meet, so he’s going to leave everything on the track.

“Not to be cocky but there hasn’t been competition a lot this year, except for sectionals,” Carter said. “I think this is going to be a really humbling experience for me, and it’s going to be good. There’s going to be a lot of competition out there.”

Piccony said the team has adjusted to the short season and is at close to top form.

“We seem to be hitting our stride, to use another track pun,” Piccony said. “We know how to run in a normal season, but how do you in one that’s truncated, that’s a little short? We’ve tried to figure it out, and we seem to be doing well right now. We should do pretty well in Charleston. We want every kid to medal, place high, and the more we score, the better the team will do.”

Like Sycamore, Indian Creek will be riding some momentum into Charleston. Four athletes will make up six entries in Charleston for the small Timberwolves team, which across both the boys and girls programs ended up qualifying eight of 15 total athletes.

Co-coach and athletic director Ehren Mertz said it’s, by a wide margin, the most athletes the team has sent in his 15 years at the school.

“I think there is just general excitement,” co-coach K.C. McCarty said. “The kids are seeing hard work pays off. Track is not the most fun as far as practice goes. It’s tough if you’re doing it right. But kids are seeing their work pay off, and that’s exciting.”

Lucas Woodbury and Colton Oleson each qualified in the 200, while Cameron Russell will compete in the 4x200 relay as well as the open 400, the high jump and the triple jump.

“Lucas and Cole in the 200 was a good surprise,” McCarty said. “We thought the 4x2 had a shot, but we’ve never run those kids before. For it to be their first time and to make qualifying was pretty cool. And we knew Cam was Cam heading in, and he did what he does.”

In the 3A meet Saturday, DeKalb will have five entries. Senior JaMari Newell will compete for the Barbs in the 400, Riley Newport in the 1,600 and Toriano Tate in the long jump and the 4x200 relay.

For Newell, he had state hopes last year, coach Jeff Saurbaugh said, but the coronavirus pandemic ended up wiping out the spring season.

“He’s responded great,” Saurbaugh said. “He had a little quad injury that slowed him down this year. He hadn’t run the time he wanted to. But he stepped up this past week. He’s seeded fourth and not only took second last week but set a big-time [personal record] of 49.58. I’m really happy for him.”

Saurbaugh said he’s optimistic that if everything breaks right for the Barbs, every entry can come home with a medal.

“Every one of our athletes is down there for the first time,” Saurbaugh said. “We’re just happy to get them down there. It should be fun. We’re in a couple of the fast heats, so we’re pretty confident everyone has a chance to bring home a medal.”

Also in the 3A meet, Porter Conroy of Kaneland is seeded third in the high jump, Aiden Gatz is second in the pole vault, and Ted Allen is 13th in the pole vault.

Sean Abracia-Wendel will compete for Genoa-Kingston in the 100. He’s seeded 12th with a 11.11, but shaving 0.3 seconds off would put him into the top nine.